The campaign to get more people vaccinated against the coronavirus across the world has been met with serious resistance from anti-vaxxers and others who are hesitant about taking the shot due to some concerns.
One of such concerns is the fear that the vaccines would alter or modify the DNA of those who took them. This fear, like many others about the vaccines continues to spread widely on social media where people who are skeptical about the vaccine have shared them as justification for not taking the vaccines.
Our anchor, Zainab Sanni, examined the claim that one’s DNA can be modified by COVID-19 vaccines. It was discovered that claim stating that coronavirus vaccines can alter human DNA started after a misrepresentation of a non-peer-reviewed article that was published in December 2020. The authors of the controversial study, which included two respected biologists from MIT, claimed that the novel coronavirus could modify human DNA. Mind you, the study did not say the vaccine could alter the human DNA but that the virus itself could.
Even at that many experts heavily criticised the conclusion of the study describing it as “strong, dangerous and largely unsupported." However, a conspiracy theory blog, Algora.com, took the report of the study and turned it on its head with the headline: “MIT & Harvard Study Suggests mRNA Vaccine Might Permanently Alter DNA After All," from there, the claim went viral after the misleading article was shared widely on social media.
We interviewed an expert, Dr. Bamidele Iwalokun, a molecular biologist with the Nigerian Institute Of Medical Research (NIMR) who shed more light on the rumour and tell us more about why the COVID-19 vaccine cannot alter our DNA. From our interview and rigorous research analyses from renowned medical organization, we arrived at our verdict for this week, press play to know our VERDICT on the viral claim.
The Production Team for this week’s episode are:
Olakunle Mohammed – Project Manager
Nicholas Ibekwe – Researcher and Assistant Producer
Oluwatosin Ologun – Producer
Zainab Sanni – Presenter
